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A nonparametric efficiency analysis of German public transport companies

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  • von Hirschhausen, Christian
  • Cullmann, Astrid

Abstract

In this paper, we present a nonparametric comparative efficiency analysis of 179 communal public transport bus companies in Germany (1990-2004). We apply both deterministic data envelopment analysis (DEA) and bootstrapping to test the robustness of our estimates and to test the hypothesis of global and individual constant returns to scale. We find that the average technical efficiency of German bus companies is relatively low. We observe that the industry appears to be characterized by increasing returns to scale for smaller companies. These results would imply increasing pressure on bus companies to restructure.

Suggested Citation

  • von Hirschhausen, Christian & Cullmann, Astrid, 2010. "A nonparametric efficiency analysis of German public transport companies," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 436-445, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:46:y:2010:i:3:p:436-445
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    1. Brida, Juan Gabriel & Deidda, Manuela & Pulina, Manuela, 2014. "Tourism and transport systems in mountain environments: analysis of the economic efficiency of cableways in South Tyrol," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Veeneman, Wijnand & Wilschut, Janneke & Urlings, Thijs & Blank, Jos & van de Velde, Didier, 2014. "Efficient frontier analysis of Dutch public transport tendering: A first analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 101-108.
    3. Campos-Alba, Cristina M. & Prior, Diego & Pérez-López, Gemma & Zafra-Gómez, Jose L., 2020. "Long-term cost efficiency of alternative management forms for urban public transport from the public sector perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 16-23.
    4. Bouf, Dominique & Faivre d’Arcier, Bruno, 2015. "The looming crisis in French public transit," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 34-41.
    5. Cinzia Daraio & Marco Diana & Flavia Di Costa & Claudio Leporelli & Giorgio Matteucci & Alberto Nastasi, 2014. "Efficiency and effectiveness in the urban public transport sector: a critical review with directions for future research," DIAG Technical Reports 2014-14, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    6. Caulfield, Brian & Bailey, Diarmuid & Mullarkey, Shane, 2013. "Using data envelopment analysis as a public transport project appraisal tool," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 74-85.
    7. Barnum, Darold T. & Karlaftis, Matthew G. & Tandon, Sonali, 2011. "Improving the efficiency of metropolitan area transit by joint analysis of its multiple providers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1160-1176.
    8. Karl-Hans Hartwig & Raimund Scheffler, 2009. "Größenvorteile im deutschen ÖSPV – Eine empirische Analyse," Working Papers 13, Institute of Transport Economics, University of Muenster.
    9. Di Yao & Liqun Xu & Jinpei Li, 2019. "Evaluating the Performance of Public Transit Systems: A Case Study of Eleven Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Sarmento, Joaquim Miranda & Renneboog, Luc & Verga-Matos, Pedro, 2017. "Measuring highway efficiency : A DEA approach and the Malquist index," Other publications TiSEM 23264815-321e-45a3-83ee-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Daraio, Cinzia & Diana, Marco & Di Costa, Flavia & Leporelli, Claudio & Matteucci, Giorgio & Nastasi, Alberto, 2016. "Efficiency and effectiveness in the urban public transport sector: A critical review with directions for future research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(1), pages 1-20.
    12. Cristina M. Campos-Alba & Emilio J. De la Higuera-Molina & Gemma Pérez-López & José L. Zafra-Gómez, 2019. "Measuring the Efficiency of Public and Private Delivery Forms: An Application to the Waste Collection Service Using Order-M Data Panel Frontier Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Mohamed Amine Mezghani & Younes Boujelbene, 2018. "Density and Scale Economies in the Public Road Transport: Empirical Evidence for Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(4), pages 1309-1320, December.
    14. Saeedi, Hamid & Behdani, Behzad & Wiegmans, Bart & Zuidwijk, Rob, 2019. "Assessing the technical efficiency of intermodal freight transport chains using a modified network DEA approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 66-86.
    15. Yao, Di & Xu, Liqun & Li, Jinpei, 2020. "Does technical efficiency play a mediating role between bus facility scale and ridership attraction? Evidence from bus practices in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 77-96.
    16. Merkert, Rico & Mulley, Corinne & Hakim, Md Mahbubul, 2017. "Determinants of bus rapid transit (BRT) system revenue and effectiveness – A global benchmarking exercise," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 75-88.
    17. Georgiadis, Georgios & Politis, Ioannis & Papaioannou, Panagiotis, 2014. "Measuring and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of bus public transport systems," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 84-91.
    18. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian, 2014. "Network similarity analysis of air navigation route systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 416-434.
    19. Vigren, Andreas, 2014. "Costs for Swedish public transport authorities in tendered bus contracts," Working papers in Transport Economics 2014:22, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    20. Ganji, S.S. & Dehghani, Alireza & Ajirlu, Shahrouz Fathi, 2024. "Evaluation of intercity road passenger transportation using a novel double-frontier game-regret-cross-efficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    21. Pal, Debdatta & Mitra, Subrata K., 2016. "An application of the directional distance function with the number of accidents as an undesirable output to measure the technical efficiency of state road transport in India," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-12.

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